What did you see tonight?

[josefk]

What a brilliant night to end the week - a lovely clear night that hadn't been in the forecast. 

Jupiter was the highlight - i dropped on the Ganymede shadow transit by pure luck - sketched over here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/415441-ganymede-shadow-transit-101123/#comment-4430730

After that i spent an hour on the most satisfying "negative observation" i can remember. After trying earlier in the week for NGC 604 (in M33) i tried again last night in a totally systematic way; large, medium, small exit pupils all w/ and w/o UHC and O-III and all given plenty of time at the eye. It felt tantalisingly close at times but still no certain observation unfortunately. Enjoyable in its own way though and satisfying because now i know it's really not going to go in my skies with 85mm of aperture and I do know the star field quite well for next time 🙂.   Slightly bizarrely M33 itself looked quite extensive with a medium exit pupil and UHC. I thought it would have been dimmed too much with that filter.

[IB20]

8 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

Hi all. I pulled over on the side of the road on my way from work last night, doing long haulage truck driving. A long 1,200km round trip.

I was 500km from Perth, in the middle of our West Australian outback. The darkness was blinding as I got out of my semi! I brought my trusty Nikon Aculon 10x50mm binoculars with me and proceeded to have a 1 hour long observing session under those pitch black skies, solid bortle 1 with zero light pollution as I was in the middle of nowhere! Highlights included the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, M7, M45, M42, Jupiter and M31 low on the horizon. The Sky was so dark and transparent I could actually see stars rising on the horizon! Keep in mind outback Australia is extremely flat. A religious experience 😍

 

Clear Skies

Joe

Sounds epic. I still remember those nights I spent at Undara National Park in QLD. Prestine and jaw-dropping views. I couldn’t identify anything! 

[wookie1965]

intermittent clouds set up going to first alignment star cloud coming over then clear and then fine rain packed up quick.   Hour later intermittent cloud so just got binoculars out and had a peruse around forecast is for clear tonight so fingers crossed.

[Bugdozer]

Our next door neighbour left their security light on so we drove to a properly dark location and had a look at the Orion Nebula. I haven't seen it with a UHC filter before, and it really was gorgeous, with lots of structure visible. Daughter was finally impressed by a nebula! 

I also managed to find Vesta, I have never seen any minor planets before, and I was surprised at how bright it looked. I am looking forward to tracking down Ceres, Juno and Pallas now. 

[Saganite]

A promising start with a beautiful split of Izar at 78x in my 6", and increasing the power to 155x revealed two sharp airy discs each with a fine diffraction ring, so that bodes well for tonight.

[wookie1965]

Put screens up so can block out lights. 

Set up did two star alignment ready to go. 

Neighbours went out left all lights on and then neighbors at the back of me decided have a bonfire night so packed up don't know why I bother. 

[John]

Iota Cassiopeia is often my first target when out. Tonight it is the Tak FC100 DL's turn and, as usual, straight out of the house the triple star was beautifully split from 112.5x to 300x - the full range of the Svbony 3-8 zoom. Great scope and a very useful eyepiece 🙂

Looking at the forecast and the cloud bands out there I doubt that it will be a much of a session but we gratefully take what we can get 🙂

Saturn looked sharp at 180x but thin cloud meant that Titan was only just visible so faint moon spotting is probably not on the cards from here tonight.

Jupiter might be OK though, if things don't get worse. Just got to wait for the planet to clear the tree line. 

Edited November 11, 2023 by John

[Saganite]

Likewise John, I am seeing  a really sharp Saturn  with certainly four possibly 5 moons.  Jupiter too is looking really nice despite being low.  Unfortunately the forecast here is similar to where you are. My Daughter and Granddaughter have just arrived for dinner so I may have seen all I am going to see for tonight.  They both were enthralled with the two  gas giants though !

Edited November 11, 2023 by Saganite

[Saganite]

I may not search for any doubles tonight. My  wife has opened a favourite bottle of wine for dinner and I suspect every star is going to be a double after that ....

[PeterC65]

Three EAA sessions in the last week which makes a nice change!

The first two (Monday and Tuesday) were with the 72mm Apo then last night I used the Explorer 150. The new Optolong L-eNhance filter was very impressive with both scopes, but it does benefit from longer exposures, 15s rather than the 4s that I normally use. The StellaMira field flattener has also improved the corner and edge stars with the refractor.

EAA sessions tend to go on for longer than visual sessions, last night I was observing for five hours, and so I'm experiencing dew problems with the refractor and the little Askar FMA135 that always rides piggyback on the main scope these days. I have the appropriate dew heaters on the way from FLO and plan to build a bespoke power wiring harness.

Since I've swapped to the L-eNhance, I've been concentrating on emission nebulae. M27 and NGC6888 looked particularly good last night, but I could also see form in the nebulosity of NGC1491, NGC1579, NGC7023 and NGC7129. These last two were better with filters other than the L-eNhance. NGC7023 needed the UV/IR cut filter as it is a broadband reflection nebula and NGC7129 turned out to emit in the IR band and looked best with the IR Pass filter. I mostly use the IR Pass filer for reducing atmospheric wobble when observing the Moon and Planets, so it was nice to find another use for it.

Here is M27 with the L-eNhance and 4s exposures ...

and NGC6888 also with the L-eNhance but with 15s exposures ...

Both images are snapshots of the live stacks from last night.

 

[John]

4 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

Three EAA sessions in the last week which makes a nice change!

The first two (Monday and Tuesday) were with the 72mm Apo then last night I used the Explorer 150. The new Optolong L-eNhance filter was very impressive with both scopes, but it does benefit from longer exposures, 15s rather than the 4s that I normally use. The StellaMira field flattener has also improved the corner and edge stars with the refractor.

EAA sessions tend to go on for longer than visual sessions, last night I was observing for five hours, and so I'm experiencing dew problems with the refractor and the little Askar FMA135 that always rides piggyback on the main scope these days. I have the appropriate dew heaters on the way from FLO and plan to build a bespoke power wiring harness.

Since I've swapped to the L-eNhance, I've been concentrating on emission nebulae. M27 and NGC6888 looked particularly good last night, but I could also see form in the nebulosity of NGC1491, NGC1579, NGC7023 and NGC7129. These last two were better with filters other than the L-eNhance. NGC7023 needed the UV/IR cut filter as it is a broadband reflection nebula and NGC7129 turned out to emit in the IR band and looked best with the IR Pass filter. I mostly use the IR Pass filer for reducing atmospheric wobble when observing the Moon and Planets, so it was nice to find another use for it.

Here is M27 with the L-eNhance and 4s exposures ...

and NGC6888 also with the L-eNhance but with 15s exposures ...

Both images are snapshots of the live stacks from last night.

 

Those views are so far advanced from the non-EAA views (even through large scopes) 😲

Makes you wonder why the rest of us non-EAA observers bother to turn out 🙄

[globular]

2 minutes ago, John said:

Makes you wonder why the rest of us non-EAA observers bother to turn out 🙄

Lovely images - but I get my satisfaction from trying to tease out the fuzz.  Dunno why.  Just do.

I suspect I'd think differently if (and more than likely when) light pollution at my home address were to worsen significantly.

[Saganite]

16 minutes ago, globular said:

Lovely images - but I get my satisfaction from trying to tease out the fuzz.  Dunno why.  Just do.

I suspect I'd think differently if (and more than likely when) light pollution at my home address were to worsen significantly.

You are not alone.  I spent probably an hour over two sessions trying to see M33 this week, tonight being my third session,  I will try again.  Hard to explain why I get so much out of seeing nothing, or next to nothing on deep sky stuff, but I do .

On your second point, if that time comes then I will just pack in.  For me it isn't just about seeing what is up there, I could be happy looking at Nasa images if that were the case, no it is about using a fine telescope to try to see what is up there, just a scope and my eyes.

Edited November 11, 2023 by Saganite

[Littleguy80]

4 minutes ago, Saganite said:

You are not alone.  I spent probably an hour over two sessions trying to see M33 this week, tonight being my third session,  I will try again.  Hard to explain why I get so much out of seeing nothing, or next to nothing, but I do .

For me it’s the challenge and the sense of achievement when you finally manage to see that little bit of almost nothing. Throw into that the sense of awe, when you consider what it actually is you’re seeing, and it’s not hard to see how we get hooked!

[IB20]

Jupiter looks fantastic tonight with the GRS front and centre. For the first time as well I’m fairly certain I can see a white oval storm in the NEB nearly in line with the GRS. I’ve been trying to spot one of those features for three years!

Forgot it’s Diwali this weekend, it’s pretty wild and hazy out currently. 

[JeremyS]

Indeed Jupiter is stunning tonight.

I started the evening with 2.5 hours in the dome working variable stars with the C11 and CCD. Transparency was gradually decreasing. So I switched over to the Mewlon. Ive had the Mewlon 210 for just over a year and this has been the best view of Jupiter. I’ve been following the GRS transit. What a lovely colour and so much detail around it! Could see a few other ovals, including the one @IB20mentioned, plus loads of other swirls in the belts. It doesn’t get much better than this.

The best view was with the Ethos 13 (x185). Increasing power with the Apollo 11 or Ethos 10 was not bringing additional detail. By contrast the Ethos 17 was too low power.
 

I also had my first use of the Leica ASPH zoom on the Mewlon. I loved the ability to dial in the magnification. It’s difficult to know the actual focal length used optimally by it looks about 12mm. I think the Leica could become my stars planetary eyepiece (x135 to x270).

The OTA was running with dew, but nothing on the mirrors.

[globular]

3 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

the best view of Jupiter

Sounds fantastic.
Best with the Mewlon, or best of Jupiter with any scope?

[IB20]

How’s the Mewlon’s control of brightness, @JeremyS? Are you using any filters or aren’t they needed? I find with the 8” dob the brightness just swamps everything. Average seeing doesn’t support extra mag to kill the brightness and so tonight the 102ED-R gives miles more pleasing views. Maybe I’m just extra sensitive to brightness in the eyepiece? 

I am continually impressed by this 4” ED scope, it’s a wonderful instrument and showing me so much. It’s giving me no reason to think about replacing it with a DC or DZ. 😝

[RobertI]

3 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

Put screens up so can block out lights. 

Set up did two star alignment ready to go. 

Neighbours went out left all lights on and then neighbors at the back of me decided have a bonfire night so packed up don't know why I bother. 

I really feel for you, what do you have to do to get some darkness? 😦 I know it’s little consolation, but I once had a neighbour who went away and left her house empty for three months - trouble is she left the bathroom light on! 😡😡

[RobertI]

2 hours ago, PeterC65 said:

Both images are snapshots of the live stacks from last night.

I reckon that’s almost as good as the view I got at Kelling through a 20” Obsession dob with a 100 degree Ethos eyepiece - just shows how deep EAA can go with a small scope. I’ll never forget dipping my eyes into that eyepiece and drinking in that view though! 

[wookie1965]

13 minutes ago, RobertI said:

I really feel for you, what do you have to do to get some darkness? 😦 I know it’s little consolation, but I once had a neighbour who went away and left her house empty for three months - trouble is she left the bathroom light on! 😡😡

My next door neighbours won't be back until tomorrow afternoon now so the bathroom and back bedroom lights will be until they get in. 

[JeremyS]

34 minutes ago, globular said:

Sounds fantastic.
Best with the Mewlon, or best of Jupiter with any scope?

Best with the Mewlon 

Probably the best ever was back in the 70s with a 14-in F/9 Newtonian in the school obsy.

[JeremyS]

28 minutes ago, IB20 said:

How’s the Mewlon’s control of brightness, @JeremyS? Are you using any filters or aren’t they needed? I find with the 8” dob the brightness just swamps everything. Average seeing doesn’t support extra mag to kill the brightness and so tonight the 102ED-R gives miles more pleasing views. Maybe I’m just extra sensitive to brightness in the eyepiece? 

I am continually impressed by this 4” ED scope, it’s a wonderful instrument and showing me so much. It’s giving me no reason to think about replacing it with a DC or DZ. 😝

I’ve never needed any filters to control planetary brightness, even with much larger scopes.

[globular]

21 minutes ago, IB20 said:

I find with the 8” dob the brightness just swamps everything.

It starts off very bright to my eyes in my 8". But I tend to get comfortable and force myself to keep at the eyepiece without looking away.  I soon lose my dark adaptation and the details start to come through. Staring at a white sheet of paper before viewing can accelerate it too, especially if you've been very dark adapted for an extended period before switching to the planet.  I think the key is patience and perseverance. It is rewarded. 

[Captain Scarlet]

16 hours ago, scotty1 said:

…

Venus and crescent 🌘

That shot of Luna, Earthshine, Venus and a suburban silhouette is fantastic! I’d have that in large format on my wall.

Magnus